The invention relates to a set of pre-manufactured teeth.
In dentistry, occlusion is the usual term for the contact between teeth of the upper jaw and teeth of the lower jaw. In reconstruction of an occlusion and thus of a masticatory surface, the aim is to ensure that the tooth contacts occur uniformly and simultaneously in all four support zones and that, upon functional movements (primarily protrusion, laterotrusion and mediotrusion movements) of the lower jaw relative to the upper jaw, uninterrupted sliding is obtained between all antagonist posterior teeth. This applies nowadays to individual rehabilitation.
The various occlusion concepts are named for their characteristics in respect of centric contact (point-centric, long-centric, freedom-in-centric) and in respect of the relationships in laterotrusion, mediotrusion and protrusion (cuspid guidance, group guidance). The added consideration of the relationships on the mediotrusion side (balance side) led to the various occlusion concepts being divided into three main groups:                1. fully balanced occlusion types        2. unilaterally balanced occlusion types, and        3. occlusion types with anterior/cuspid guidance.        
The early occlusion concepts arose in the context of the problem of complete denture prosthetics. From the aim of positioning the prosthesis as steadily as possible against tilting in order to secure the adhesive anchoring, fully balanced concepts were necessarily developed in which the importance of individual functional elements was ignored.
Consequently, the factory-made teeth developed for these methods had no functional masticatory surfaces. The concept of organic occlusion qualified the importance of the contacts present in the excursive movements. It starts from the premise that excursions are not guided by the teeth in the masticating movement.
A uniform occlusion concept for complete denture prosthetics and the natural bite has not as yet been postulated. The hope of finding the ideal occlusion concept by describing the natural state, through data from anthropological studies, has also come to nothing.
The principles of the “freedom-in-centric” concept are that the cusps are fixed as far as possible through three-point contacts on a flat area in the central fossa which is not provided by nature but instead has been formed either on the basis of an individually modeled restoration or by grinding.
The concept of “organic disclusion” is based on a mutually protective function of anterior and posterior teeth. For individual restoration, this is nowadays the most widely used technique since, through the additive technique, it yields much more precise wax modeling results than does subtractive shaping.
It is only recently that the resulting modern requirements for individual functional masticatory surfaces have been postulated. The properties of factory-made teeth for the removable denture have also been recently described. In particular, the combination of the study of the natural model with geometric and mechanical considerations has led to the concept of the inductive-deductive functional masticatory surface.
Since the principle of additive shaping cannot be applied in the production of an individual denture with factory-made teeth, these have to be pre-manufactured in such a way that they can be tailored individually in the subtractive method. The postulated arrangement, in this connection, of the antagonist contacts in relation to the sagittal and transverse compensation curve has led to the development of teeth which are supported vertically in the position of intercuspation and which function in the fully balanced occlusion concept, the unilaterally balanced occlusion concept, and the anterior/cuspid guided occlusion concept. Such sets of teeth are known, for example, from PCT/EP99106079 (hereafter Mönkmeyer) which describes sets of teeth in which the stamp cusps of an antagonist in the intercuspation position come to rest on three or more contact points in the fossa of the other antagonist. The contact points are disposed on a sagittal and transverse compensation curve defined by the movement of the jaw condyles. Such sets of teeth can also be set up in tooth-to-tooth relationship, for example one tooth to two teeth, in class I, II and III cases and in cross-bite (Mönkmeyer).
In order to avoid laterotrusion and mediotrusion disturbances in any event, and to ensure a harmonious take-over of the guide surfaces in the event of abrasion phenomena, it is recommended for the individual restoration to include a disclusion of the posterior teeth which increases uniformly from anterior to posterior. This is achieved by having the inclination of the cusp slopes decrease sequentially by 5° per tooth.
Abrasion teeth are also known wherein the abrasions simulate a natural abrasion state by contact surfaces being formed from original contact points.
The discussion of the occlusion concepts is closely associated with the phenomenon of abrasion and attrition. The question of to what extent abrasion and attrition can be classified as a physiological or pathological phenomenon has not as yet been fully clarified.
Factory-made teeth derived from these requirements of individual prosthetics should anticipate abrasion processes. Abrasion processes in the context of occlusion are highly sensitive processes. So-called abrasion teeth do not satisfy this demand because their abrasions are not methodically connected to the processes in the complex stomatognathic system. It has been argued that the central problem in this context is the loss of the central relationship.